I started into headphones many years ago with Senns (414's). I was unimpressed with their comfort and sound quality compared to listening to music on a traditional home HiFi speaker based system; so I gave up on them. I spent over 20 years building a decent home speaker-based system afterwards. A little over 2 years ago, I was forced to sell my setup due to numerous personal circumstances (needed the money, it didn't sound good in my little 1-bedroom apartment, and I was spending more time on my comp late at night and couldn't listen to my music at a decent level without disturbing others).
I sold my gear on ebay, and in the course of doing so; stumbled across headphones and other related gear. I recognized some names from memories of old reviews I'd read in countless past-issues of high-end mags, and this led me to decide to give headphones another shot. I purchased an mp3-player, and a set of open-box but never-used, Shure E5c's; with some of the money I made from selling my home-rig. While waiting for the Shure's to arrive, I stumbled upon Gary Ali's PA2V2 on ebay, and bought one through his ElectricAvenues website. In our emails with each other, he mentioned HeadFi...which was what eventually led me here.
Well, the amp arrived to me before the Shure's did; so I listened to the new mp3 player amped, through my old Sony MDR-35's. What an improvement that was! My old $20 (almost 20-years-old) 'phones sounded better than ever, so I was excited to get my trendy new, multi-driver IEMs, and was looking forward to some great hi-end sound. I was enormously disappointed when the Shure's finally arrived. I burned them in for over 100 hours, and still found them severely lacking in so many ways. I liked my $20 cans much better; so I sold the almost $600 Shure's on ebay (at a $150-loss), 3-weeks later, and decided to buy a set of Grado SR125's NIB, for $140-shipped.
I owned those cans for about 6-months and was impressed so much, that I decided to upgrade to the 225's. I bought mine used from a fellow Headfier, a year and a half ago, and their sound quality with everything I throw at them, is amazing. I prefer them with bowls (I find flats obscure the detail in the mids and highs). They are comfortable, lightweight, and work great with the types of music I listen to (which is everything except opera and classical).
After almost 2-years, I find it difficult to justify spending more money for headphones. The 225's are that good. I'd rather feed them a better source (looking for a $200 USB-dac at the moment). I'm still toying with the idea of a Headfile woodie/cable mod, but I just enjoy the sound of these stock so much that I don't want to lose them to Larry for such a lenghty period of time. These are the best cans I've ever owned, and has redefined my perception and enjoyment of music. As is, my little 225-based headphone rig trounces my former $7000+ speaker-based rig. For me, that says it all.
I won't get rid of these. They just plain ROCK
!
I sold my gear on ebay, and in the course of doing so; stumbled across headphones and other related gear. I recognized some names from memories of old reviews I'd read in countless past-issues of high-end mags, and this led me to decide to give headphones another shot. I purchased an mp3-player, and a set of open-box but never-used, Shure E5c's; with some of the money I made from selling my home-rig. While waiting for the Shure's to arrive, I stumbled upon Gary Ali's PA2V2 on ebay, and bought one through his ElectricAvenues website. In our emails with each other, he mentioned HeadFi...which was what eventually led me here.
Well, the amp arrived to me before the Shure's did; so I listened to the new mp3 player amped, through my old Sony MDR-35's. What an improvement that was! My old $20 (almost 20-years-old) 'phones sounded better than ever, so I was excited to get my trendy new, multi-driver IEMs, and was looking forward to some great hi-end sound. I was enormously disappointed when the Shure's finally arrived. I burned them in for over 100 hours, and still found them severely lacking in so many ways. I liked my $20 cans much better; so I sold the almost $600 Shure's on ebay (at a $150-loss), 3-weeks later, and decided to buy a set of Grado SR125's NIB, for $140-shipped.
I owned those cans for about 6-months and was impressed so much, that I decided to upgrade to the 225's. I bought mine used from a fellow Headfier, a year and a half ago, and their sound quality with everything I throw at them, is amazing. I prefer them with bowls (I find flats obscure the detail in the mids and highs). They are comfortable, lightweight, and work great with the types of music I listen to (which is everything except opera and classical).
After almost 2-years, I find it difficult to justify spending more money for headphones. The 225's are that good. I'd rather feed them a better source (looking for a $200 USB-dac at the moment). I'm still toying with the idea of a Headfile woodie/cable mod, but I just enjoy the sound of these stock so much that I don't want to lose them to Larry for such a lenghty period of time. These are the best cans I've ever owned, and has redefined my perception and enjoyment of music. As is, my little 225-based headphone rig trounces my former $7000+ speaker-based rig. For me, that says it all.
I won't get rid of these. They just plain ROCK
!
.
